


Masterpiece

by beckettjoy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, im not exactly proud of this but i figured i would post it anyway, its basically just ren staring at hux for 2000 words, ren is a museum guard and hux is an art student
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 20:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13911585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckettjoy/pseuds/beckettjoy
Summary: Ren is a security guard in a museum when he starts noticing the same art student coming in every afternoon.





	Masterpiece

As a full-time security guard at an art museum in New York, Ren sees a _lot_ of city art students come through the museum, often several times in a short period.

That’s why Ren doesn’t think much of it when he starts noticing the same young man turning up at the museum in the afternoons to spend an hour or so sitting on one of the various soft benches scattered around the floor, especially because he’s always working at something in a sketchbook. But to be honest, it did’t take several days straight of repeated visits for Ren to take an interest in him; from the first time Ren saw him — with one skinny leg tucked underneath him on the seat, playing with the sleeves on a soft sweater, repeatedly brushing his bright hair out of his eyes as he drew — he’s found the guy quite intriguing. And by intriguing he means hot. 

So Ren is a bit more than pleased when he starts seeing the ginger boy on his floor of the museum every afternoon, always with his sketchbook and pencils, often in sight as Ren slowly does his rounds throughout the floor. Most of the time, Ren’s observed, when there’s a recurring art student, they’re visiting the museum for some assignment, so they come through for a few days, sometimes a week, sketching or making notes on a specific piece or artist before leaving for good.

So that’s why there’s a few things strange about this specific student, who Ren has started referring to in his head as “Ginger”. For one, after more than two weeks, Ginger is still showing up at the museum (at about 3pm, Ren’s noticed, and staying for an hour each time). The way he rotates around the whole floor, spending time in every room instead of staying in just one area, is odd as well. And finally, Ren doesn’t really ever see him looking specifically at any of the art; most of the time, his head is just buried in his sketchbook, or else his gaze is wandering (apparently) randomly around the room.

Once Ren has this realization, he starts keeping a bit of a closer eye on Ginger, on the off chance that he’s, like, trying to plan a heist or something, and this is his version of casing the place. If so, his downfall is his attractiveness, because without that, Ren isn’t sure whether he’d have noticed him at all. 

And once he starts paying more attention, he starts catching Ginger looking at him. Not every time he looks, and he’s not even always looking directly at Ren’s face, but every time Ren catches him, Ginger immediately looks away, and depending on how far apart they are, Ren can sometimes see a bit of color coming onto his cheeks.

_Oh, that’s something._

Ren doesn’t think much of it at that point; it could merely be coincidence, that Ren just catches him spacing out. Maybe Ginger always blushes when people catch him looking at them. Maybe he has a tendency to stare at strangers. Maybe he’s an assassin or something and is trying to figure out the best way to eliminate Ren. Okay, probably not the last one, but the other ones, yes.

It doesn’t help to quell Ren’s interest in the guy though, and since there’s not usually a whole ton to do during his shifts besides standing by the wall and sometimes telling people to step back from a painting, Ren make it his mission to find out what Ginger’s always sketching. Because it doesn’t really seem like he’s sketching any of the art, given how rarely he actually ever looks at the art.

The task is a lot harder than Ren anticipated — a fun pastime Ren has is peering over at art students’ work and mentally giving them ratings — but Ginger keeps a much tighter guard over his sketchbook than the usual students. He’s always bent over it, or shielding it with his arm, or has the other side of the book propped up to block any view. 

A few days after Ren’s set this goal, he gets his chance, but just about misses it: Ginger is just leaving for the day, walking through the middle of the room near Ren, when another visitor bumps directly into him, causing Ginger to drop his sketchbook. Sadly, Ren had been looking the other way and only turns when he hears the sound of the book hitting the floor. When Ren’s realized what happened, Ginger’s already scooping the book off the floor, but not quite fast enough that Ren doesn’t catch a glimpse of one page, on which is unmistakably a bust of a person. Given that it’s a colorless drawing that Ren only sees as a blur before Ginger snaps the book shut, he cannot positively say who was depicted, but Ren knows this floor of the museum well enough to know that there aren’t any pieces of art there that look like the drawing. He also thinks it kinda sorta looked like him, but there’s certainly no way to be sure. It’s probably wishful thinking, and it would be stupid to get his hopes up for something so wildly unlikely.

That evening, after Ren’s finished shepherding the last of the visitors out the door so they can lock up, it occurs to him that Ginger isn't necessarily spending all of his time on Ren’s floor; maybe for other parts of the day he’s elsewhere in the museum. If that’s true, then he’s spending a _lot_ of time there and should probably get a job (but that’s not really important). But the next day he talks to a friend who works security on the second floor and asks to switch for the next week, claiming a desire for a change of scenery. The friend accepts, and the next morning, Ren’s still slowly patrolling the walls and occasionally moving people (mostly children) away from the art pieces, but just three floors lower than usual.

The day comes and goes without a glimpse of Ginger. Ren’s surprised by how disappointed he is, surprised by how much he realized he looks forward to seeing the familiar boy in his familiar soft sweaters every day. 

The next four days pass, void of Ginger as well. So it appears that he only does visit the fifth floor. Granted, there’s a lot of good (and famous) art up there, there’s more art elsewhere and it’s just a bit strange.

At about 3:30, on Ren’s sixth day of patrolling the second floor, he spots Ginger walking slowly through the entrance to the exhibits, at the same moment Ginger spots Ren across the room. Though Ginger instantly looks away, Ren hopes he’s not imagining the way Ginger’s shoulders relax visibly before he walks over to one of the benches on the opposite end of the room, getting right to work in his mysterious sketchbook. 

_This is definitely interesting_. 

Ginger leaves at his customary 4 o’clock, and is back on the second floor at a few minutes after three the next day. Ren can’t really convince himself this is a coincidence any longer, so he decides to do something about it. Nothing too big, but something further than just periodically looking over at Ginger and sometimes making the briefest of eye contact. Because now Ren is strongly considering the possibility that Ginger followed him to the second floor.

So the next time Ginger looks over at Ren, he’s already gazing back, and is ready with a grin this time. Ginger’s eyes go slightly wider before he buries his head back in his sketchbook, ears visibly reddening. Success. 

Ren vaguely wonders why Ginger hasn’t like…tried talking to him at all. Since he’s at work, Ren can’t do anything, can’t try flirting with or even talking to Ginger (unless he breaks a museum rule but of course Ginger is like, perfectly respectful), but there’s presumably nothing stopping Ginger. 

The next day, Ren’s back on the fifth floor, and so is Ginger. So Ren starts smiling at him every time they make eye contact which, he must admit, is quite often. Often enough that Ren’s finally convinced that it’s not an accident; Ginger’s apparently just painfully slow at making any sort of move. 

After only a couple days of this, Ginger stops blushing as much in response to Ren’s smiles, supposedly coming to the conclusion that Ren’s smiling at him so much because, yes, Jesus, Ren’s interested in him too. When Ginger then starts purposely prolonging their eye contact, Ren thinks that something’s finally going to happen, that Ginger will finally talk to him, or at least something more. To Ren’s dismay, however, Ginger leaves at 4 o’clock that day as well without so much as a word to Ren.

Ren’s starting to think that nothing’s ever going to happen, that he’s going to be doomed to staring at Ginger for eternity. Maybe without realizing it, he’s died and this is his version of hell. 

The next day Ginger doesn’t have his sketchbook with him. He also spends his time walking around and contemplating the art, like a normal person, until finally leaving at his usual 4 o’clock. Ren can’t help but think of doomsday scenarios, that this is Ginger’s last day coming to the museum, that he’ll disappear forever and Ren will have no way of ever tracking him down, that he’ll be forever kicking himself for not just manning up and talking to him one day, that he’ll always be wondering what could have happened. 

He’s so caught up in this train of thought that he barely notices when, just before closing time at 5:30, Ginger walks back into the exhibit area, smiles right at Ren, and wanders over to stare at some Picasso that Ren couldn’t give two shits about right now, because he’s never ever seen Ginger in the museum outside his customary hour visit. Because Ren will never have a better chance than this, he waits until the floor has emptied out before (steeling himself with a few deep breaths), he walks straight over to where Ginger’s still standing, hands fiddling with the hem of his sweater. 

“Excuse me, sir,” Ren says, trying to make his voice as calm as possible, which is extremely difficult considering he’s never been in such close proximity to Ginger before. “We’re closing now, if you’d please make your way out.”

Ginger turns around slowly, a small smile already gracing his lips. He regards Ren for a moment; Ren can see his nose twitch and the sight of it is unexpectedly adorable. 

“Okay,” is all Ginger says, but he doesn’t move.

Alright, this is all up to Ren now, apparently. Who is now really hoping he isn’t making a HUGE mistake.

“I’ve seen you around here a lot,” Ren tries, immediately wanting to suck the words back in because shit, that’s such a terrible line. Quickly, he attempts some form of recovery. “You must be really into art. Are you a student? I’ve seen you sketching.” Okay shut up, shut up, shut up.

“Yeah, I, uh,” Ginger starts, glancing down briefly and tucking a lock of hair behind his ear, before evidently getting a burst of confidence and staring Ren directly in the eye as he says, “There’s some really nice things to look at here.” The way he momentarily tugs his lower lip into his mouth tells Ren that he means exactly what Ren’s thinking.

“I agree,” Ren replies slowly. He has no idea what else to say, since he never thought he’d get this far. “I’m Ren,” he adds, figuring introducing himself is a good route.

“Hux,” Ginger says, and Ren repeats the name quietly, trying the shape out in his mouth.

There’s a moment of silence, before Ren just decides to grow some balls and just fucking ask this guy out.

“Do you wanna, like, do something?” Ren asks. Yes, it could have been a lot more eloquent, but at least he got it out there.

Hux’s eyes crinkle up with a smile as he says, “Yes, there are, uh, many things I’d like to do.” His confident tone and suggestively raised eyebrow are slightly undermined by the color rising in his cheeks; Ren thinks that makes it even better. 

Leaning closer to Hux, placing a light hand on Hux’s hip, Ren asks in a low voice, “Anything in particular?”

Hux pulls Ren’s head down with one hand so he can whisper in his ear, “Oh, there might be one…”

 

***

 

Two months into their relationship, Ren _finally_ gets Hux to admit that yes, the majority of the time at the museum, he was sketching pictures of Ren.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Maybe I'll add onto this, I'm not sure, it feels like a lot of set up for a small payoff to me, but I just banged it out and wanted to post it.
> 
> tumblr: [fuckhux ](http://fuckhux.tumblr.com)


End file.
